My Biggest Issue with Santos and The Pitt As a Whole
Online, especially on Tik Tok I'm seeing a lot of rhetoric around the lines of "If you dislike Santos you don't actually like complex female characters." And I can't help but get more and more upset about it. Because I dislike Santos and I LOVE complex female characters, like Al-Hashimi or a million other female characters from different shows. However, I don't like characters that are bullies--which is what Santos is. It's clear that she pushes the other med-students/residents boundaries, like with continuing to call Javadi "crash". Along with that she just rude, her being in a bad mood all of season two makes sense, since by all means she's having a shift from hell. However, multiple other characters are also having a shift from hell, but we don't seem them disrespect others as much as Santos does.
But getting onto my main point, I find it very disingenuous that many die hard Santos fans will try and say people don't like complex female characters when they say they dislike her. While doing this, they tend to dumb her character down to being a woman who has been victimized sexually or they dumb her down to her conflict with Langdon. They, while trying to be morally superior to others, manage to make her character into nothing more than "victimized woman". People rarely dislike her just because she told on Langdon (and if they do that is 100% wrong). The most common reason why people don't like her is because she is rude, and her being rude is NOT what makes her complex. What makes her complex is the way her trauma dictates the way she interacts with patients and how she does her job. She is so caring when it comes to cases with children, however as we see with Harlow, she can also be so dismissive of certain peoples needs. She also is both a victim of America's terrible medical system and a perpetrator or it. She is overworked and micromanaged yet she also is dismissive and rude to patients.
And I want to emphasize that she is not kind or nice. I see people say that "she's not nice but she's kind," which is very clearly not true. What I will say though is that she is compassionate. She was very companionate when offering Whitaker a place to stay, but she was not nice or kind when she tells Robby his personal life.
When it comes to the Langdon Vs. Santos debate, I think people need to realize that they are both complex characters in complex situations. Santos was 100% in the right for reporting him, and he was 100% wrong for yelling at him. HOWEVER Santos is 100% wrong for constantly disrespecting him and being rude to him in front of staff and patients. The situation she found herself in on her first day at the ER was horrible, and it was horrible that she was the one who found Langdon out, however in the same breath she did was rude to everyone her entire first shift (both in season 1 and season 2). What Langdon said (most of it at least) was correct, he just said it in an unprofessional and cruel way. Santos was objectively being mean and obnoxious during her first shift, and we see from season 2 that this hasn't really changed. But he should have never spoken to her the way he did and it should've been a private discussion not in front of their peers. Yet I personally cant help but not pity her much, because none of that behavior from the first season changed.
(I also want to add that I would not consider myself a Langdon stan. I like him but not that much)
I do want to say that the way people in the fandom do talk about Santos is incredibly weird. And I do not believe that Santos has to forgive Langdon. No one owes Langdon forgiveness, especially not Santos considering she was the one who found him out and how he treated her. Also saying that I dislike Santos isn't entirely true. Throughout every episode I go from liking her to disliking her. Her empathy with children is incredibly heartwarming (Santos peds arc when).
I also want to say that people are also just allowed to dislike a character. Just because they are a complex character does not mean anyone HAS to like them, especially when they are a complex character who also happens to be rude (like santos).
I also think her character as a whole is diminished by almost all sides of the fandom. On one hand we have stans of hers who reduce her to her traumas, and on the other hand we have the side of the fandom that takes all of her character traits and gives the to Whitaker. Her queerness and trauma are taken from her and given to the white man. Overall, no matter how much I like or dislike Santos in the moment, I will personally never say that she isn't complex or interesting. She is such a great character study. Especially for a show like The Pitt that is heavily based in a "show don't tell" style of writing.
but yes this is my rant so bye bye now.
annaxmalina
baratheonpilled
titsay
vaporwave
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